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Unprecedented Support for the USA FREEDOM Act of 2014 (S. 2685) the USA FREEDOM Act of 2014 (2

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Unprecedented Support for the USA FREEDOM Act of 2014 (S. 2685) the USA FREEDOM Act of 2014 (2 Unprecedented Support for the USA FREEDOM Act of 2014 (S. 2685) The USA FREEDOM Act of 2014 (2. 2685) has unprecedented bipartisan support from a broad coalition that includes the intelligence community, the technology industry, and dozens of privacy, civil liberties, and other public interest organizations. Intelligence Community In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper concluded that “the Intelligence Community believes that your bill preserves the essential Intelligence Community capabilities … and … that it is a reasonable compromise that enhances privacy and civil liberties and increases transparency.” [Letter from Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to Chairman Leahy, 9/2/14] Technology Industry In an open letter to the entire Senate, Reform Government Surveillance, a group of the world’s leading technology companies that includes Aol, Apple, Dropbox, Facebook, Evernote, Google, Linkedin, Microsoft, Twitter, and Yahoo!, voiced strong support for the USA FREEDOM Act of 2014: “The Senate has an opportunity this week to vote on the bipartisan USA Freedom Act. We urge you to pass the bill, which both protects national security and reaffirms America’s commitment to the freedoms we all cherish. The legislation prevents the bulk collection of Internet metadata under various authorities. The bill also allows for transparency about government demands for user information from technology companies and assures that the appropriate oversight and accountability mechanisms are in place … Now, the Senate has the opportunity to send a strong message of change to the world and encourage other countries to adopt similar protections… We encourage you to support the USA Freedom Act.” [Reform Government Surveillance, 11/16/14] Conservative Groups A host of leading conservative groups have voiced strong support for the USA FREEDOM Act of 2014, including FreedomWorks, Liberty Coalition, Republican Liberty Caucus, and R Street. FreedomWorks, a conservative and libertarian advocacy organization voiced strong support for a vote in favor of S. 2685: “…the Senate version makes major reforms to section 215 of the Patriot Act—a controversial section that allows government agencies to spy on people without probable cause or letting them know that they are being monitored. It’s important to ensure that privacy bills contain strong and clear definitions. The Senate USA FREEDOM Act gets rid of some ambiguous language and loopholes that the government may have used to justify collecting Americans’ private records in bulk in the House version. For example, it would ban bulk collection by making it clear that government cannot collect all information relating to a particular service provider or a specific geographic region. The American people deserve a vote on the USA FREEDOM Act in its current (or even stronger) form. There are more of us than there are of them.” [FreedomWorks, 7/29/14] Civil Liberties, Human Rights, and other Public Interest Organizations On June 18, a coalition of 44 leading civil liberties, human rights, and other public interest organizations wrote in support of the USA FREEDOM Act of 2014 to bicameral leadership and the chairs and ranking members of the intelligence committees. This coalition included the American Civil Liberties Union, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Center for Democracy and Technology, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Constitution Alliance, The Constitution Project, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Human Rights Watch, Government Accountability Project, TechFreedom, Public Knowledge, and others….: “The undersigned civil liberties, human rights, and other public interest organizations write in support of the USA Freedom Act (S. 2685), which Senator Leahy reintroduced on July 29. We urge both the Senate and House to pass it swiftly and without any dilution of its protections. We support S. 2685 as an important first step toward necessary comprehensive surveillance reform.” [New America Coalition letter in support of USA Freedom Act of 2014, 9/4/14] .
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